The following article originally appeared in the Hedgeweek US Best Practice Report.
During this exclusive interview with Hedgeweek, Vinod Paul, chief operating officer at Align, talks about the public cloud innovations Align is bringing to clients, as well as how the firm is changing the managed services landscape.
In the fast-paced world of technology, efficiency and speed are highly valued. Align, a technology infrastructure solutions & managed IT services firm, prides itself on offering clients the innovation that occurs in the public cloud at a faster rate than any of its competitors. This, in turn, allows its clients access to the full benefits of these developments. 
Chief Operating Officer of Align, Vinod Paul (pictured), says: “The single biggest factor many service providers are trying to navigate is how to utilize the public cloud. Align was an early adopter of the public cloud and public cloud technologies. We were one of the first managed service providers to become a tier 1 Microsoft cloud solutions provider, and because of that, we’ve been able to leverage public cloud innovation ahead of other managed service providers. Further, we’ve been able to push the benefits of passive innovation to our clients and give them a cost-effective, up-to-date solution.”
Align has been operating for over 30 years, providing support through IT challenges and delivering secure and complete solutions for business change and growth. The firm is headquartered in New York City and has offices in London, Chicago, San Francisco, Arizona, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia.
According to Paul, one of the main drivers of Align’s success has been the experience it provides its customers. He explains that every single client gets a dedicated client relationship manager, and they each can interact with the firm through its secure client portal.
He says: “We’re seeing a huge turnover in the services space, and many clients we engage with have had a poor customer experience with their previous service provider. Our client success stories have been a result of our dedicated support teams, subject matter expertise, commitment to providing an exceptional experience and building upon the evolving needs of our client base. These core values, coupled with the innovation the public cloud has been able to provide, are some of the top reasons clients are changing MSPs and moving to Align’s platform.”
In practical terms, the public cloud innovations Align is bringing to clients help them meet investor due diligence and regulatory challenges while seamlessly supporting their day to day operations.
Due to the fast pace of change in public cloud technology, Paul highlights that the firm’s focus is to remain leveraging the innovation in the space. “We stay ahead by dedicating a tremendous amount of time to research and development. We work with Microsoft and Amazon daily to ensure our cloud practice is up to date. And most importantly, to make sure our clients are getting the benefits of the changing technology which will enable them to operate in this changing world,” Paul notes.
Align aims to not only onboard clients but to help transform their business process when signing up to the Align platform. Paul comments: “It’s bringing about a transformation of their business. We can do that successfully because we have an experienced onboarding team who goes in and understands what the clients’ day to day issues are before we do the implementation. Our goal is to understand our clients’ workflows and enable them with the tools to efficiently operate around their processes.”
Over the course of the year ahead, Align aims to continue providing its clients with a superior service experience. A key aspect of this will be to support clients in meeting the challenges posed by cybersecurity, due diligence and regulation.
Paul remarks: “Our objective for clients is to continue to leverage the public cloud to help protect them and deal with regulatory and due diligence concerns and continue to transform these organizations. As technology changes so quickly, we want to make sure our clients fully utilize the benefits of the public cloud.”
Access the article on Hedgeweek here.
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